On Aug 25, McLean faced Chantilly in an intense game of girls volleyball. Coming into this game, McLean was looking to bump up their success from last season.
This is their first official match of the season with their new coach, Amy Debok. Years of coaching experience has followed her to McLean, as Debok is the founder of the Monument Volleyball club.
“On the varsity level, it’s very complex,” Debok said. “What I’m trying to bring to them is within the complexity: [the] simplicity.”
Music pulsed and quaked the court as feet pattered to the beat. Warming-up before a stressful match, the varsity girls have one thing on their mind: victory. The moment the buzzer rang to signal the start of the game, the gym fell silent and the air was filled with anticipation.
The game started off with a long rally. Every set was intentional and hits were placed strategically. However, the momentum began to shift with a missed serve by McLean followed by poor defense. Despite those initial efforts to maintain a lead, the set ended with a 25-18 win for Chantilly.
The second set began with a long rally once again, but Chantilly finished victorious as they exploited weak spots in McLean’s defense. This, combined with Chantilly’s team chemistry, gave McLean a minimal chance of success. The second set ended 25-16, with McLean’s spirits crushed.
“We had a lot of highs and lows,” senior setter Claire Wang said. “We were just trying to stay aggressive and stay calm.”
The third set showed the true power of McLean spirit, as once McLean got the early lead, they used the momentum to create a gap.
Chantilly came back strong, however. McLean’s spirit began to falter and it seemed as though Chantilly would walk away with the win. With hardly a prospect of catching up, McLean called for one last timeout to talk things over.
“Each position has a different thing you should be doing, all simultaneously,” Debok said. “When we focus on the simplicity of it, we [focus] on a singular job and break it down.”
As the crowd watched with nervous jitters, the tables started to turn in favor of the Highlanders. McLean was able to close the gap, earning four points in a row after their initial losses, bringing the score from 17-22 to 21-22.
Chantilly’s triumph from the last two sets seemed to be no more. The whole of McLean was on their feet—losing the third set means losing the match.
With the prospect of losing looming over them, the Highlanders brought the set back and won 29-27 knocking Chantilly’s spirits down and itching closer to a comeback victory.
The fourth set began with spirits high and an early lead. But due to multiple mistakes, McLean lost their advantage. The Highlanders fell far behind and lost the prior optimism which came with the win of the previous set. With spirits low, McLean allowed Chantilly to win the set 25-19.
The game following McLean’s initial loss against Chantilly bumped up the odds for their season as McLean triumphed over Justice, winning two out of three sets.
McLean is set to play Justice next on Wednesday Aug 27, with the hope of preventing an adverse 0-2 start to the season, a hole that is not easy to get out of.
“We have a lot to learn,” Wang said. “But I think we had a lot of spirit which will carry us through the rest of the season.”
